


Jacob Two-Two and the Twister Trouble

by Katiebug586



Series: Jacob Two-Two and the Anthology Album [4]
Category: Jacob Two-Two - All Media Types
Genre: Blood, Blood and Injury, Comfort, Platonic Relationships, Platonic Trio, Rain, Storms, Thunderstorms, Tornado
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-07
Updated: 2020-02-07
Packaged: 2021-02-28 00:14:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22594621
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katiebug586/pseuds/Katiebug586
Summary: The trio choose the absolute worst day to go to the park.Cowork with VJR22_6
Relationships: Jacob/Buford/Renee
Series: Jacob Two-Two and the Anthology Album [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1549141
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Jacob Two-Two and the Twister Trouble

Jacob sat on the couch, watching the news, rather bored. He reaches for the remote when suddenly something pops up. “And now, Darrell here will give you the forecast! How does it look, Darrell?”

“Well, right now it’s clear and sunny, however, there is a possibility of a storm later today, but the chances of it bringing anything more than some light rain is minimal.” The forecaster stated, chipper. “You may want to bring an umbrella just in case, you never know!”

Jacob got up from the couch and looked outside. It _looked_ perfectly sunny outside, didn’t it? However, there was a small feeling in his gut that told him otherwise. That perhaps instead of going to the playground with his friends, they should just spend the day inside and watch a movie or two.

But even if it did rain, it would only be a little, right? That’s what the forecaster said, at least. They could handle getting a little wet, and maybe once it was all over, they could splash in the puddles left behind by the drizzle.

He started to walk to the front door, but before he could open it and step outside, Noah ran up to him, holding an umbrella. “Wait!”

“What do _you_ want?” Jacob mentally facepalmed, whenever something good was about to happen, one of his siblings always had to try and ruin it.

“Mom wanted me to give you this-” Noah handed him the umbrella. “Before you went to the park.”

“Oh. My bad, my bad.” Was all that Jacob could say, taking the umbrella.

“What? Did you think I’d prank you or something? You know, I’m not _that_ bad of a person. A little mischievous, yes, but I know my limits. Call it, chaotic good.” Noah struck a pose as he finished, however, Jacob was still unimpressed.

“Alright, ‘Mr. Chaotic Good’, I got a park to get to and friends to meet.” Without waiting for Noah to say anything else, Jacob turned the knob and stepped outside, shutting the door behind him.

“Wow, rude. Didn’t even say goodbye.” He heard Noah mutter from the other side.

_“Goodbye, Noah.”_ He grunted out.

“Better, see you later, squirt, wouldn’t wanna be ya!”

Jacob didn’t open the umbrella as he walked, as it was still pleasant outside. Today was a great day to be outdoors, again, why wouldn’t it be? There was only a little breeze, and the sun was out, warming the air up around him. For all he could care, today would be a perfect day.

Meanwhile, at the park, a young boy was seen sitting in a tree, trying to talk to a squirrel. “We thought it was something serious, but it turned out he just had to poop!”

The squirrel responded by licking its paw and ruffling its fur, in an attempt to groom itself, slightly disinterested, but not enough to leave.

“You’re such a good listener, Mr. Squirrel! Is that your name? Or do you have a more… ‘professional’ one, like Professor Nutty? Wait, isn’t that the name of a movie?” Before the boy could ask the squirrel any more questions, a voice called out his name.

“Hey, Buford!”

The squirrel darted off, jumping from branch to branch. Buford grabbed a couple of branches and attempted to follow suit. “Hold on!”

However, he was _not_ a squirrel, and as soon as he started climbing up through the foliage, the twigs snapped under his weight and he was sent falling to the ground, along with a bunch of leftover sticks and leaves. Thankfully, he had some soft grass to land on, but it still hurt. Groaning, he saw Renee standing over him. 

“Zat’s quite a way to make an entrance. You okay?” Seeing him nod, she leaned down and grabbed a leaf that was in his hair. “I didn’t know zat getting leaves stuck in your hair was ze hottest new trend.”

“That’s not the only thing I have stuck up there. Leftover shampoo that I didn’t rinse out, toothpaste, even a hairbrush!” Getting up, he shook the remaining leaves and twigs out of his hair. “So, when’s Jacob coming?”

“Don’t know, I would _imagine_ he’s on his way, but who knows. You got our lunches, correct?”

“Yep!” Buford grinned, holding up three plastic bags, each with a sandwich and cookie inside. One of the sandwiches was cut into two parts, both in the shape of a dinosaur. “My mom made mine in the shape of a brachiosaurus! Did you know that they ate between 400 and 800 pounds of plants every day?”

Renee scoffed. “You are _such_ a mama’s boy.”

“Am not!”

“Oui, vous l'êtes. You’re eleven now, and you’re still having your mozer make your lunches, in ze shape of extinct species, no less.”

“I can make my own lunches!” Seeing Renee look at him quizzically, he continued. “Not everyone has the world figured out yet, you know? Not everyone can wake up at the crack of dawn and-”

Buford was interrupted from his rant when a huge gust of wind picked up out of nowhere. Still slightly dizzy and off-kilter from his fall, Buford was seamlessly thrown to the ground once more. After a couple of moments, the squall subsided, as Renee tried to pat her messy hair back into shape. “What… was zat?”

“Uh, wind?” Buford asked, pulling himself into a sitting position.

“Zank you, _Sherlock._ ” She took his hand, pulling him back up to his feet. “I know it was the wind! But zat _was_ pretty powerful of a gust, non? It even knocked you off your feet!”

“I’m sure it’s nothing, Renee. I just lost my balance, that’s all!”

“If you say so.”

“Come on, you can’t let a little wind ruin your mojo-” Buford’s eyes suddenly lit up like a Christmas tree. “Hey look! There’s Jacob!”

Renee spun around, seeing the aforementioned boy running to meet up with them. “So it is.”

“Hey, guys! Sorry I’m late, sorry I’m late!”

“That’s okay, Jacob! Say, I remember that quote that Gandalf The Great said, about never being early or late, and how you arrive exactly when you mean to.”

“Thanks, but I’m not a wizard.”

“Not yet, at least,” Buford corrected him. “You notice anything weird lately? Has the mail started coming on Sundays?”

“Buford,” Renee groaned, covering her face. “Zat kind of magic _isn’t_ real.”

“Is so!”

“Is not!”

“Yea? Well, I have a bunch of books that I got from the library that’d prove you wrong!”

“Zat’s for magic _tricks._ You’re talking about spells and witchcraft, which are simply not logically possible in any sort of way.”

As the two continued to bicker, Jacob thought about how wrong Renee was in her claim. Sure, logically speaking, It’d make sense to assume that magic simply wasn’t possible, and Renee was mostly logic-based in her ways. However, Jacob had his fair share of misadventures with actual genuine magic, from turning his sister into animals, swapping brains with Greedyguts, and trying to save his classmates after they were all turned into frogs. Why was it that Renee couldn’t remember being a slimy and smelly frog?

Maybe it was all a dream, after all, Buford eating flies wasn’t too out of the ordinary, was it? But that didn’t explain the Sourpickle statue that was created during his magic battle with her, did it? Sourpickle was simply a witchcraft user and he’d have to up his efforts to not tick her off this upcoming Halloween, lest he and his friends get turned into worms or something even worse. But that brought him back to the same point, magic was real, there was no doubting it.

He was dragged back to reality when Buford stated, “Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not real, you know.”

Yea, Buford was right! Take that, Renee!

“Oh really? Like what zen, Buford?”

“You know, like… like germs, and… and atoms! You can’t see atoms, can you? But they’re there!” It was obvious the boy was starting to get flustered, desperately trying to defend himself against one of the cruelest beasts of all, logic and reasoning.

“Can I just say something?” Jacob said, knowing full well that he was stepping in the middle of a war-zone. Seeing the two stare at him expectantly, he took a deep sigh and continued. “You’re both right.”

“We are?” Renee questioned, urging him to elaborate.

“Well, Renee, it doesn’t seem logically possible, does it? But for Buford, he’s right. Just because we haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened. But it might not have happened, just as much as it might've happened, right? Right.” But he _had_ seen supernatural stuff happen, several times. However, the only way to calmly quell this fight would be to somehow manage to take the two opposing viewpoints and have them meet in the middle.

Buford nodded, agreeing with what Jacob was saying. Renee, on the other hand, stood silent for a few moments, before letting out a defeated ‘You’re right’ sigh, sitting down by the tree that Buford fell out only around ten minutes ago.

Jacob and Buford also joined her, sitting side-by-side, watching the beautiful sunshine envelope everything in a nice warm glow. A couple of clouds could now be spotted on the horizon, but they seemed few and far between. 

“You know, I might get to spend the summer in Yellowstone with my Uncle Lee!” Buford abruptly announced. “He’s a stormchaser and he’s going down there with some geologists to study the geysers to see if severe weather affects them, and he said I could come with!”

“That’s great, Buford, great.” Jacob tried his best to sound interested, but a whole summer without Buford? That sounded like a recipe for disaster. Sure, he’d done it for the longest time before he moved to Montreal, but he didn’t even know Buford _existed_ then.

As if Buford sensed his sadness, he let out a dorky smile. “Hey, It’s okay if you don’t want me to go!”

“It’s just that I’d miss you a whole lot.” Jacob bluntly stated, looking out into the distance.

“You know, if it’s alright with your parents, I’m sure Uncle Lee wouldn’t mind a plus one or two.” Buford looked at Renee as he finished his sentence.

“Gee, I don’t know, Buford, I don’t know. I mean, it sounds nice, but then I’d miss _my_ family.” 

“Aw, that’s too bad, I guess. I was thinking we could roast marshmallows at the geysers, or even cook a whole turkey! What about you, Renee?”

“Zanks, but no zanks. Zis is ze place I feel most comfortable at.”

“Sure, but isn’t it nice to get out of your comfort zone?”

“But for what reason? All you’re doing is watching a bunch of hot steam get shot out of an opening. Sounds pretty _terne_ if you ask me.” Renee replied.

“There’s lots of reasons!” Buford pouted. “Besides, Old Faithful is _more_ than just a geyser! It’s a staple of geological history, a reminder to all that-”

The boy suddenly stopped in his tracks, as he looked around. “You guys hear that?”

“Hear what?” Jacob asked, beginning to look around as well.

“Oh, nothing. I thought I heard thunder.”

“Thunder?” Jacob looked at the sky, noticing a rather thin row of clouds coming in from the very back of the sky. “Oh. A storm might be coming in.”

Seeing his friends’ concerned looks, Jacob showed them the umbrella. “Don’t worry. If worst comes to worst, I’m prepared.”

“Zat’s good, I suppose. Now is anybody else ready for lunch? I’m absolutely starving.”

“Ditto,” Buford replied, looking at the bags to the side, grabbing the dinosaur sandwiches. “These are the only ones that are different. I had them _specially_ made. The others are exactly the same.”

Renee grabbed one of the leftover sandwiches. “Mama’s boy!”

Buford took a large bite and spoke, though it came out muffled. “Am not!”

Jacob snatched the last remaining sandwich, watching the two with curiosity. _‘What did I miss out on?’_ He thought, taking a small bite. Probably nothing but mindless bickering between the two, which would now turn into some kind of an inside joke, or more like an inside insult, given how peeved Buford had become.

The rest of their lunch was rather uneventful. Buford told more facts about Yellowstone and it’s many Geysers, and even said something about a wormhole theory he had heard on a Stephen Hawking documentary. Renee joined in with her usual sarcastic comments and Jacob simply sat and listened. However, as he glanced upwards every once in a while, the sky continued to darken, bringing thicker clouds that eventually blocked out the beautiful sunshine.

But that was okay. Even if it started to rain, they could still hang out. Maybe not next to all these trees, but they could go see a movie, or even play around in the street puddles! For some reason, though, his body felt like it was in danger, as he uncomfortably fidgeted around. When did it get so cold?

“Is anyone else feeling uneasy?” Renee asked, looking up at the sky.

“A bit, a bit,” Jacob muttered. “We could start heading back now if you wanted to.”

“Nonsense, zere’s nozing wrong wiz a couple of-” She was interrupted from her sentence by a low and ominous rumble in the distance. While it wasn’t exactly close to them, storms tended to move rather quickly, and when there was thunder, a rainstorm wasn’t too far behind. 

“I don’t know about you guys, but-” Buford froze, before jumping up and sniffing the air, his gaze darting from side to side as if he was looking for something.

“What do you smell? It’s not Greedyguts, is it?” Jacob asked, eyes widening. The last thing they needed right now was another encounter with one of the worst people that Jacob ever had the pleasure of meeting. Jacob certainly wouldn’t put bothering kids _away_ from school past their principal’s moral standards, which were non-existent.

“Relax, Jacob. While it is a rather pungent scent, it’s not _that_ foul. It’s a little known fact, but you can smell storms!” 

“What? Zat’s totally insensé!”

“It’s true! It’s telling me that we better get out of here before the downpour happens, which shouldn’t be too long from now.”

Jacob stood up. “Well, you guys wanna go back to my house?”

Renee nodded, getting up last. “I suppose so. Even if Buford’s wrong and it doesn’t storm, it has been getting razer cold out, non?”

She was right, the temperature had dropped dramatically since Jacob had first gone outside. While the wind wasn’t as strong as it had been during that one gust, it was rather constant now, making it feel even colder.

Before they could take a step, however, Jacob felt a small drop on his head. And then another, and another. “Looks like it’s starting.”

It was a light drizzle, for now, at least. However, Jacob didn’t want to take his chances. He was told that being under trees was the _worst_ possible location to be in during a storm, and he hoped his friends knew as well.

Renee stepped away, glancing back at the two. “Well, are you two coming or not?”

Jacob and Buford nodded, following her as she walked, trying to find the exit that would take them back to the city. What would’ve been an easier trip had it been calmer weather soon turned into a struggle, as the wind picked up and the rain came down harder and harder. Unfortunately, the umbrella was not big enough for all three of them, and they had to take turns using it, so everyone was still soaked to the bone.

Buford shivered, hugging himself in an attempt to keep warm. “Jacob, I’m f-f-freezing. Can’t we stay under a tree and wait for the rain to let up?”

“It’s not safe, Buford, it’s not safe.” Jacob put his arm around his friend, trying to support him.

“We could, but zen we’d get struck by lightning and-” As soon as Renee said that, a bolt of lightning struck, illuminating the darkened sky.

While Buford jumped up in fright, Jacob squinted, looking around the area, before pointing at a large gazebo out in the distance. “Look! We can camp out there!”

“Do… D-Do we have to? That seems k-kinda far.” Buford let out another shudder, still not used to being so cold all of a sudden.

Renee sighed. “What ozer choice do we have, honestly? We eizer stay here and get zapped, continue on our way back to ze city, nevermind ze fact zat we’re lost, or stay over zere, nice and dry.”

Buford nodded, still nervous, and tired. Jacob took his hand, trying to be reassuring. “It’ll be okay, Buford, I’m with you, alright?”

Buford looked down at their hands, trying his hardest not to blush. Even though he was soaking wet, freezing, and scared of loud noises, as long as Jacob was with him, everything would be alright in the end. He put on a brave face, feeling newfound determination. “Alright, let’s go.”

Even though it didn’t seem possible, the rain and wind seemed to come down _even harder_ when they finally reached the gazebo. Jacob helped Buford towards the metal picnic table, just about ready to collapse as he sat down beside him.

Renee sat on the other side, trying to shake her hair to get the water out. “Well, it’s over now, at least. Too bad zat it’ll take _forever_ now to fix my hair.”

Buford let out a slight groan, putting his head on the table. “I guess. It’s just _really_ crazy out there, even more than my Aunt Tempest!”

Jacob looked outside, watching the rain simply pound the soil beyond belief. It was still windy like no tomorrow, but at least they were safe here, right? They just had to wait it out, and then they could go home, or hey, maybe they could stay for the beautiful sunset that always seemed to come out after a storm as nasty as this.

“Hey, guys?” Buford asked. “I don’t think this is a normal storm. I mean, call me crazy, but something just doesn’t seem right about this.”

“It is razer powerful, I’ll say,” Renee muttered, watching the leaves in the trees get blown around like ragdolls. “But I doubt it’s anyzing to be worried-”

Before Renee could finish her sentence, a loud noise was heard, not thunder, but as if someone threw something against a hard surface. Jacob let out a squeak of terror. “What was that?!”

It happened again and again, and Jacob located the source of the noise. Outside, small balls of ice were falling from the sky, hitting the ground and shattering into a million pieces. Maybe Buford was right, maybe something _was_ wrong with this storm.

Speaking of Buford, he seemed to be deep in thought. “Aha! That’s hail! Usually, when you see hail, that means severe weather is about to happen!”

“Severe weather? _Severe weather?!”_ Jacob felt his heart beating rapidly beating in his chest, absolutely terrified at the thought. “What do we do?!”

“Well for starters, we’re staying _right_ here. By ze time we get to ze city, who knows how bad it might get. We’re better off staying here and not taking any risks.”

Renee was right, Jacob supposed. They would be safer staying in the gazebo for right now. No matter how much the wind howled at them, no matter how loud it hailed, as long as they had each other, they’d be just fine. Or so Jacob thought.

As soon as Jacob got that thought out, a dreadful high-pitched and loud noise filled the air. Oh great, now the sirens were going off, as if this day couldn’t get _any_ worse. Just as Jacob was about to lay his head down and accept his fate, he felt a tug on his arm, and looked down to see Buford staring at him with wide-eyes.

“Jacob, I’m scared!”

“Scared? Why?”

“If the sirens are going off, that means there’s a tornado on the ground, right?!”

“Well, yes, but...” Jacob couldn’t help but gulp, Buford was absolutely right. There was a tornado around somewhere, and the scariest thing was that they didn’t know _where_ exactly. It could be all the way on the other side of town, or creeping up behind them. “But… But…”

“Just because zere are sirens and a storm _doesn’t_ mean zere’s a tornado, you two.” Renee interrupted. “It could just be ze station warning people about ze horrific weazer. We really picked a bad day to go out, didn’t we?”

“We sure did, Renee. We sure did.” It seemed like the perfect day at first, and now, all three of them were stuck in a rather small gazebo, faced with what could possibly be certain death.

For a moment, ignoring the loud thunder, rain, and hail, everything was silent, nobody saying so much as a word. However, it was not to last.

“Hey, Renee, are you scared?” Buford asked, shivering slightly, not from the cold, but from fear and nervousness.

“What? Why would I be scared over a silly storm?” She let out a weak laugh, as if the idea of feeling fear was nothing but ridiculous nonsense, though knowing her, it probably was. 

“Well, I mean, if you’re scared but you don’t wanna admit it because you think it’ll make you look weak, well Jacob and I are scared, very scared, aren’t we?”

Jacob nodded.

“Fear is nozing but primal instincts! You have to rise above it, you have to-” Renee’s ‘pep talk’ was cut short when a can hit her in the back of the neck. “Hey! What gives?!”

Jacob and Buford looked behind Renee and the site made their pupils dilate. The two jumped out of their seats and started to slowly back up, shaking all the while. 

“What is your problem?” Renee asked, daring to turn around. “Oh. Oh no.”

While not entirely visible, it wasn’t rocket science to realize that the twister was right behind the gazebo. Branches and litter were being swung everywhere in a giant whirlwind of true terror, and Buford broke out of his ‘deer in a headlight’ trance.

“EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF!” He screamed, running into the woods, trying to flee the tornado. 

Jacob shook his head, clearing his thoughts, before running after Buford. “Wait up, wait up!”

“You mean every man _and_ woman for zem-” Renee started, but then looked back at the spinning vortex of debris and decided not to finish her sentence. Jumping off the chair, she quickly took off. She felt the wind getting stronger and stronger as she attempted to fight against it.

To her horror, however, she realized she was losing her footing, and wasn’t going to escape. It was going to suck her in and she wouldn’t make it out of this alive.

Fortunately, Jacob was near, and he rushed in to save her. He grabbed her hand, and pulled her away, their strength combined being enough to escape the fierce wind. Panting and exhausted, the two looked at each other. “You… You saved my life.”

“Why wouldn’t I? Why wouldn’t I? Come on we better- WATCH OUT!” A piece of the now destroyed gazebo was hurling straight towards Renee. Without so much as a second thought, Jacob lept into action once again and pushed her out of the way. However, now the debris was flying towards _him_ instead.

Jacob had thought that he had known pain, but apparently he was wrong, oh so very wrong. The object in question, a very sharp piece of metal, had blown into him full force, not only sending him flying into a nearby tree, but slicing him on his side as well.

“Jacob!” He heard his friends call out his name, but he could hardly register it, trying to block out the dull ache in his body and the sharp cut-like pain on his- wait, oh no. With a weak hand, he lifted up his sweater, coming face to face with his worst nightmare. There was a long sharp cut on his abdomen that was spewing blood and hurting like no tomorrow.

His friends reached him, gasping when they saw what he was looking at. Another round of excruciating pain shot out from the cut, causing him to grit his teeth in absolute agony. This pain was like nothing he had ever experienced before, his body begging to faint, but he had to remain awake. Who knew if he’d ever wake up if he did lose consciousness?

“Renee, come on, we gotta get him to the hospital, now!” While Buford’s voice was comforting, it was like sprinkler against a house fire, despite helping a _tiny_ bit, it was utterly useless.

“What happened to every man for himself, huh?” Come on guys, _please_ don’t argue right now. Jacob could feel his eyesight starting to blur, bound to pass out any second now. This was it, huh? He was going to die here, while his friends bickered about absolutely nothing. Maybe it was from the blood loss, but he didn’t feel scared, just _annoyed._

“I was just saying that because-”

“Stop IT!” Jacob yelled, earning looks from the two. “I’m _bleeding,_ I could _die._ Stop arguing and take me back to my house!”

“Your house? But zat’s-”

“It’s closer. Take me to my house, do some first aid stuff on the wounds and _then_ take me to the hospital, alright?! Just stop arguing!” Jacob immediately regretted speaking, as his cut started to hurt worse, if that was even possible, and his vision started to darken. “Please, just… please help me.”

As if the gravity of the situation finally dawned on him, fear finally rushed back to his mind, and he tried to keep himself from passing out. He didn’t want to die, he was just a kid! Unfortunately for him, however, the tide of sleep was stronger, pulling him in farther and farther. At this point, as his thought was starting to slip away, he knew trying to resist was moot, he just hoped that Buford and Renee would know what they were doing, as his fate was in their hands. With that in mind, he slipped into the endless sea of darkness and oblivion, the pain finally letting up.

Jacob woke up some time later, his whole body feeling like fire. It hurt to do everything from breathing to moving, and he saw stars. But he was alive at least, even though it came at a cost, more pain. Opening his eyes weakly, he figured he was in a hospital, with the white walls staring back at him and the beeping from the machines next to him.

“What… happened?” He asked, spotting his friends by the bedside.

“Jacob, you’re alright!” Buford exclaimed, happy to see his friend was doing well. “There was this twister, then you saved Renee, twice, and then you got this _gross_ cut on your stomach that bled and bled, and the doctor said you lost so much blood that-”

“I… get the picture.” Jacob held up his hand, remembering it now all too well. He then lifted up his hospital gown to see the infamous cut, now all stitched up.

“Don’t touch it!” Renee snapped.

“I wasn’t going to! I was just checking it out!” He pulled the gown back down, not only because he was trying to calm Renee down, but also because he was disgusted by what he saw.

“Yea, because if you do, all your organs will fall out!” Buford stated, strangely cheerful despite the morbidness of his statement.

“I’m pretty sure zat’s _not_ going to happen, Buford. Still, if you want it to heal, and not get infected, you need to leave it be.”

“I know, I know. Still, I’ll probably get a nasty scar or something now.” It was pretty obvious, once it healed, there’d be this giant noticeable scar on his side and-

“But that’s the best part!” Buford glanced at where Jacob’s wound was, hidden by the gown, perhaps admiring it. But why would he even want to admire such a disgusting thing?

“Why? Why is it the _best_ part?” Jacob asked, confused.

“Because, you can show people it, and be like ‘I got this bad boy surviving a tornado _and_ I saved my friend as well, twice. Because that’s my name, Jacob Two-Two!’ and they’ll be like ‘Woah, he’s so cool!’, and boom! Instant respect!”

“I guess.” Buford did make a good point, back when he first came to Dreary Meadows Elementary, he was obsessed with becoming the cool guy, even borrowing his eldest brother’s shirt for the day. Now he had instant ‘respect’ material, and it wasn’t like Greedyguts could take it away from him like he did the shirt. But at the same time, he had grown and matured and had come to realize that you needed to _deserve_ the recognition. Did he?

Buford gasped, reaching into his pocket, and pulled out a few acorns. “I almost forgot! I saw Mr. Squirrel again, and he wanted to give you these!”

“Oh, uh, tell him I said thanks…” Jacob took the acorns, putting them on the hospital nightstand. It wasn’t the worst Get Well Gift Buford had given him. When the boy had to get surgery to have his tonsils removed, instead of ice cream, Buford had given him a dead, no, a ‘ _taxidermied’_ bird. Thanks, Buford.

"Also, I decided to _not_ go to Yellowstone. While my uncle's cool and all, I think I'd prefer to stay in Montreal and not gave to deal with any other bad weather, at least for a while."

"That's good, Buford, that's good. Well I mean, it's good that you're staying. I would've missed you too much!" Jacob was telling the truth, he would miss his friend dearly.

“Yes, it is good, now, Jacob, may I have a word wiz you?” Great, now Renee was probably going to beat him up for one, helping her, she was very picky about asking for _any_ kind of support, and two, scaring them like that. 

“Listen, if you’re going to beat me up and tell me what I did was stupid, then do it. I’m already in pain, so why not add more?”

“Well, I will agree wiz what you said, zat was very stupid of you, and if you ever do somezing like zat again, you better _hope_ it kills you zis time,” She got closer to him, in a threatening-like way. “Because if it doesn’t, I _will.”_

Forget the tornado, Jacob was more terrified for his life right _now_ than he’d been in the last couple hours, days, or however long it had been since then.

“But zat wasn’t what I was going to say.”

“It isn’t?” Jacob and Buford said at the exact same time.

“No, I was going to say, zank you.”

Jacb was absolutely speechless, what was _she_ thanking him for? While the answer was obvious, it just didn’t seem like Renee to say thanks for something like that.

“Thank me? _Thank me?_ For what?”

“For saving me, duh! I know what I said about not feeling fear, but zat’s simply not true. Back zere, I was absolutely _terrified._ I zought I was going to die, but zen you came in and rescued me, not once, but twice! How do I make it up to you?”

“You don’t have to, it’s what friends do. Besides, you _saved_ me as well, didn’t you?”

Buford grinned. “Oh yea, we did, we’re all heroes! I didn’t even _need_ saving!”

“Consider it a lucky break for him, and an unlucky break for you.” Renee muttered.

Jacob laughed, happy that even though he and his friends went through a rather tough time, they all came out of it alive, and stronger than ever.

You know, maybe he did deserve the respect, he saved a friend's life.

Still, that's just what any good friend would do.


End file.
